Instrumental Theories of Compensation: A Survey

This Article is to argue (albeit reluctantly)against the union of a compensatory remedy that can be and have been defended from the standpoint of corrective justice on the theory that corrective justice requires that a wrongdoer compensates those that have been wronged versus compensatory remedies that have been defended by economists, and by others who rely on instrument arguments, on the theory that compensatory remedies promote efficiency. In the process, I will survey the economic or instrumental arguments for compensation in some detail, for the benefit of those who may not have kept up with the economics literature. But this is a survey with a purpose, which is to demonstrate the very different role that the concept of "Compensation" plays in economic as opposed to moral theories.